Dissolve Parliament now: VK Singh-Anna

Former Army chief V K Singh and anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare on Monday made a bitter attack on the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and said the Parliament should be immediately dissolved if India were to follow its enshrined welfare state norms.

"Government is against the Constitution. We demand that the Parliament be dissolved and elections held immediately," Singh said here.

"People should choose the new government," Singh said.

Speaking on the issue of corruption, he said: "Both ruling party and opposition are silent over corruption issues."

Singh was seen sharing stage with anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare.

In a statement issued by them, Anna group said: "As per our Constitution, India is a welfare state, in which a democratically elected government is duty bound to protect and improve the life of the masses. However, the current system has completely ignored these principles enshrined in the Constitution and has surrendered to the market forces."

"The government is not at all concerned about the well-being of common people. Irony is that not even a single Member of Parliament (MP), the representatives of people, has cared to raise this issue.If India has to move from being a welfare state to a neo-liberal state, then how would it be decided and who will take this decision?" they asked.

"Can this decision be taken by the government or a few political parties? The answer obviously would be ´NO´. Only the people of our great country are empowered to take this decision. It is their right to decide how they want to be governed.

"Therefore, there is a demand for dissolving Parliament, which is not following the constitution, so that the people can decide the nature of the government and the state - whether it should be a welfare state or a neo-liberal state," they said.